WHAT'S HAPPENING INDEX

**[details] June 9th, 9th annual Human Rights Awards Event, free this year!

** [details] May 21, BELLINGHAM GRASSROOTS & INDEPENDENT MEDIA CONFERENCE

** [details] Thorugh May 4th Help us plan the 11th Annual WHRTF Banquet -- interested?

** [details] through May 4th - HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS NOMINATIONS SOUGHT

** [details] Law Advocates Book Club group -- interested???

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9TH ANNUAL WHATCOM HUMAN RIGHTS AWARDS EVENT
This year: ICE CREAM SOCIAL
Thursday, June 9th 2005, 7:00 - 8:30 PM

The annual awards recognize individuals and groups who have made a positive impact on human rights in Whatcom County.

Please Join us in honoring the 4 awardees.

Admission is free - Donations appreciated.

A brief membership meeting will precede the awards program
RSVP to 733-2233 or whrtf@whrtf.org

The evening keynote address will be given by
Satpal Sidhu
Dean of Professional Technical Education at Bellingham Technical College.

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This year's Human Rights Awards recipients include:

Marian Beddill.
View Marian's website. A longtime community activist, Marian is a charter member of the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force. Her civic involvement spans the spectrum of social justice issues, ranging from the League of Voters to People for Lake Whatcom. She is also a member of the Social Justice Committee of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship.

In 1999 Marian helped organize the first Honor Day, the holiday that recognizes the many contributions made by Native American Indians. She has written and lobbied extensively for a voter-verifiable paper (physical) ballot for every voter, and was one of the organizers the Vote by Mail Forum held in January of this year. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Marian is a retired civil engineer who specialized in water management. She has lived in Hawaii and six other states, and her consulting work has taken her to Brazil, Bangladesh and a dozen other nations, around the world six times.

Jamie K. Donaldson.
As the founder and coordinator of the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center since 2002, Jamie has been steadfastly committed to keeping peace and justice issues and events in the forefront. Because of her efforts, our community has a thriving Peace and Justice Center in downtown Bellingham, where over 1500 people visited last year.

Under her leadership the Whatcom Peace and Justice Center has worked with many churches, interfaith groups, and human rights organizations, reaching out beyond Bellingham to all communities in Whatcom County. Through the" Militarism in the Schools Project", which Jamie initiated, the WPJC is working in every Whatcom County high school to provide students with useful information and education about alternatives to military service.

Margie White.
A registered nurse by profession, Margie works tirelessly in many areas. Her involvement with human rights activism began with the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties, then the Central American Solidarity Movement and the Farm Workers' Rights Movement. Her main focus currently is the war on Iraq and its impact on the Iraqi people.

Margie can be seen everywhere in the community--on over passes, in front of federal buildings, newspaper offices, recruitment centers, and in court. On marches in Bellingham, Olympia, Vancouver, and beyond, she is accompanied by her beautifully crafted and powerful banners and signs, which she often produces in a day's notice to convey the message of the moment.

The Whatcom County Library System, with special recognition of Joan Airoldi, the Deming Library staff, the Library Board of Trustees, and attorney Deborah Garrett.
On June 8, 2004, an FBI agent visited the Deming branch of the Whatcom County Library System demanding the names of all library patrons who had borrowed the book Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America. As the Director of the Whatcom County Rural Library District, Joan Airoldi organized and guided the library's efforts to fight the request, protecting patrons' right to read what they wish free of government scrutiny.

The staff of the Deming branch refused to provide information to the visiting agent, and the library system informed the FBI that no information would be released without a subpoena or court order. Aided by attorney Deborah Garrett, the Library Board then voted to fight any subsequent subpoena in court on the grounds that the request infringed on the First Amendment rights of readers; that libraries have the right to disseminate information freely and confidentially, without the chilling effects of disclosure; and that Washington State's library confidentiality laws protected the records.

The reception is free.

RSVP to the WHRTF office at (360) 733-2233 or
email: whrtf@whrtf.org

LOCATION:
Faith Lutheran Church
Northwest & McLeod Road
Bellingham

For more information, please contact
Barbara Rofkar, Board co-chair
email: barbara@WHRTF.org

Berns Portervint, Board co-chair
email: berns@WHRTF.org

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